MGMA: Docs Concerned About MU Impact

Thirty-one percent of physicians responding to an MGMA survey said their productivity will decrease more than 10 percent as a result of complying with the 25 Meaningful Use criteria laid out in the recent NPRM from HHS. The MGMA research also highlights the specific criteria that many respondents say would be “difficult” or “very difficult” to achieve. These include:

• The proposed requirement that 80 percent of all patient requests for an electronic copy of their health information be fulfilled within 48 hours (45.9 percent) and
• The proposed requirement that 10 percent of all patients be given electronic access to their health information within 96 hours of the information being available (53.5 percent).

Respondents to MGMA’s questionnaire were asked to estimate the resultant change in provider productivity, not including the temporary decrease that occurs with any implementation of a new EHR. While 31 percent predicted a decrease greater than 10 percent, more than two-thirds of respondents (67.9 percent) said that physician productivity will generally decrease.

Access the 2010 MGMA Meaningful Use Research summary; Access comments made by research respondents